The next day, her excitement was quickly crumbling into frustration as she repeatedly sent parchment after parchment in every section of the library in search for The Tales of the Aruichi. Each returned to her, scarlet red, with the words 'Not Available' printed on it. Albus lay sprawled across a stiff wooden chair, snoring slightly. She kicked the leg of the chair to wake him up and he spluttered.

"I don't know what to do--the book's not here."

"No," Albus replied slowly. He picked up one of the several discarded scarlet parchments from the pile at his feet. "It 'doesn't exist' according to the library searches."

"It exists--of course it exists," Rose sighed. She fell into a chair next to him. How could it not exist? Albus Dumbledore—the wisest wizard of their era had sent her searching for it. He would know if the book existed or not if he had suggested it--it was just ridiculous to think that it couldn't. "Maybe it just doesn't exist in this library."

"Or any other magical library or else these parchments would have said so," Albus reminded her calmly.

Rose scowled, looking out of the window as the early-morning sunshine filled the quiet grounds of the Quidditch field outside. She had been so excited to find this book that she had wanted to go to the library last night itself as soon as they had arrived. The library had been closed last night, however, as Mr. Trench had decided to spend the day at home and return for the beginning of classes this morning. Unable to sleep properly all night long with dreams haunted by Professor Dumbledore's portrait whispering unknown words to her and pixies flying around begging for help, she had woken promptly at five-thirty in the morning and had awoken and dragged Albus down the library. It was an hour later. No luck with the book.

Albus yawned loudly, stretching his arms into the air. "Can I go back to bed now?"

He had asked the question five times before in the past hour and she had resolutely said, "No!" every time. Now she was quite tempted herself to go back to her warm and comfortable bed. Disappointment had made room for her to feel her eyes burn with lack of sleep. "It has to be here somewhere," she sighed.

Albus didn't say anything and just stared at her with an apologetic twist to his lips. "Sorry, Rose."

She shrugged and sighed again. "You can go back to bed. I think I'll head down for an early breakfast." Sleep didn't seem very attractive to her considering the chance that she might see the pixies again and have to tell them that there's no way she can help them. Though it could all just be in her head, she still felt guilty towards the poor creatures.

She blinked. She had just considered the possibility that it was all in her head. So... did that mean she was going insane? That she had imagined all of the disappearing magic? It had been a fear that she had repressed since she had spoken to Professor Dumbledore, but it was slowly surfacing to the forefront of her mind. She chewed on the inside of her lip.

Albus patted her on the shoulder, rose to his feet, and walked out of the room. She sighed, falling back against her chair and looked despairingly into the depths of the bookshelves before her. She couldn't believe Professor Dumbledore--or even his portrait--could have been wrong about this. She hadn't imagined that conversation too, had she?

I'm not going insane! She firmly told herself. Setting her jaw, she stood up again, walked over to the quill and parchment on the table before her, and tore of yet another piece to send searching. This time, she scribbled just 'Aruichi' on the parchment and waved her wand at it, saying the spell in her mind. The parchment came to life as the numerous ones before it had, fluttered in the air, and went flying through the bookshelves. She followed it, unable to suppress the desperate glimmers of hope bubbling inside of her.

That was quickly squashed when she saw that the parchment had led her to the Muggle Studies section of the library. The parchment had turned green and multiplied into two pieces which were stuck in different areas of the section. Rose sighed, debating going back to sleep herself. Half-heartedly, she walked to the nearest parchment and pulled out the book it had led her to. LOST CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST AND THEIR INFLUENCE OF THE MUGGLE WORLD. She frowned. Lost civilizations?

The book automatically opened up to page 698 in her hands. She scanned the writing, searching for the word Aruichi. Her heart practically stopped when she found it at the bottom of the page. She read the text quickly, flipping the pages with so much enthusiasm that they nearly tore through. "I can't believe this," she whispered. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, her back against the bookshelves, and continued reading the text.

Two hours later, she strode into her first class of the morning, Transfigurations, with a victorious smile on her face. She dropped into her seat next to Albus towards the front of the class. "Don't tell me--you found something?" Albus leaned forward, looking too surprised for her liking.

"Of course I did," Rose replied. She pulled out several pieces of parchment that she had copied over from the books with a wave of her wand. "I couldn't find the book here because it's not Magical. It's based in Muggle myths. But the Aruichi--they definitely were not Muggle. Their origins in Magic go back to the origins of Earth!"

Albus's eyes scanned the sheets, pausing on the pictures of the cave-carvings describing the legend of the Aruichi which Rose had found quite fascinating herself. "So what does this have to do with the disappearance of Magic?"

Rose couldn't stop smiling as she leaned forward even more in enthusiasm. "The Aruichi were known as the Protectors of Magic. They forever served this one being called the 'Keeper' who nourishes and maintains Magic throughout the world."

She was glad to see that her excitement was spreading to Albus as well as his eyes twinkled on the pages. He finally looked up, surprised. "Way cool. But if these guys are ithe protectors of Magic, why aren't they in any of our textbooks and what-not?"

"That's because they fell apart a long long long long long time ago. I mean... even before Magic was recognized to be what it is. Before people started harnessing its power and actually using it. So eventually, people just forgot about them and thought they were myth. It didn't help that the Keeper had abandoned them."

"Abandoned? What do you mean?"

Rose felt her smile drop. "Well..." She admitted rather sheepishly, "...that's where the books stopped. There were like barely twenty pages on these guys put together and most of it was absolute drivel about how the Muggles took the Aruichi and twisted them into a Native American tribe and use their name as tourist-attraction. Let me tell you, the author was not a big fan of the Muggles and how they apparently ignore every sign of pure Magic around them."

Albus sighed, his gaze returning to the parchments she had handed him. "So, that's it then? This is where it ends?"

"No," Rose shook her head, "because that book still exists. I used the computer in the Muggle Studies section of the library to look for it. There are very few copies of it because it's perceived as some children's tale, but I found it in a bookstore in Arrowhead, Virginia."

"Then call for it!"

"I can't call for it! That's stealing."

"Oh, come on--you'll return it after you use it."

Rose shook her head. "I can't do that, Albus. Besides, it's across the ocean--slightly more difficult to call for a book which I have never seen before, don't know the exact location of the bookstore, don't know anything about where it's kept and all of that from across the ocean."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

She took a deep breath. "I want to go to Virginia."

(0)

Albus was still snickering as they wandered down to their Care of Magical Creatures class two hours later. "Just imagining your Mum... still cracking me up. 'Oh, hey, Mum, I was wondering if it's all right if I up and leave for Virginia in the middle of the school year. Why? Oh, just to go search for a book that has nothing to do with my classes. NEWTs? Ah, who cares about them anyway? They don't actually determine the rest of my life--'"

Rose chewed on her bottom lip. "I forgot about the NEWTs."

"You forgot about the NEWTs?!"

"What's so shocking about that?"

"You've been preparing for them since you got done taking your OWLs two years ago."

Rose scowled. "You make me sound like some sort of grade-crazy maniac--"

"Like your Mum? Definitely."

"Ablus!"

"I'm just telling you the truth. There is absolutely no way that Aunt Hermione's letting you go through with this one--"

"It'll only take at most a weekend to go there, search for the book, and bring it back."

"Mm-mm. She will flip, I assure you. I mean, the NEWTs are only a month away!"

Before Christmas, Rose would've felt worms in her gut at the very mention of the examinations. Now, she could hardly care. "We have to convince her somehow."

"We? Rose, I'm taking three NEWTs myself in February. I'd rather stay back and study for them a little too." Albus looked beyond mortified to be forced to admit that piece of truth. Rose quirked her eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything in response. It wasn't exactly a secret that Albus worked nearly as hard as her to maintain his grades, whether he liked it or not to admit it freely to the public.

"But the protection of magic... versus your NEWTs? Think about your priorities, Albus."

"I'm thinking, but I still don't see your Mum agreeing to it. She probably wouldn't even believe you--"

"Of course she'll believe me--I have proof!"

"Oh? What proof?"

"You forgot about Pixies, Albus!"

"And I'm willing to bet that she did too."

Rose stopped in her tracks as they approached the class which was seated in a clearing in the snow close to the shade of the forest. She hadn't thought about that before... her mother forgetting about Pixies too. Hermione had always been... well... brilliant to simply put it. One of the smartest after Albus Dumbledore himself, according to the entire Magical community. She forgetting Magic had not been a possibility in Rose's mind. However, she realized now that there was a very good chance--if not a surity--that she probably didn't know what was going on either. "You're right," she admitted to Albus. "Mum's not letting me go anywhere."

Albus looked slightly apologetic at the disheartened tone of her voice. After a moment, he put his arm around her and led the rest of the way to the class. "Here's an idea," he said in hushed tones. "How about we stick it out until our NEWTs—just one more month? We can stay for the commencement and then you can suggest Virginia to your parents. I'm sure they'd be fine with you leaving after you are done with school, and then you can go for as long as you want."

As much as she hated to admit it, Albus's plan made sense. She was also immensely glad that the new options that were available to advanced students allowed them to take the NEWTs four months in advance. According to the Ministry, it allowed students more time to pursue internships and further studies earlier than if they were to take their NEWTs in June. It also gave them the opportunity to retake the examinations were they to have gotten less-than-satisfactory scores. Rose was not very worried about the second. She already knew her scores would be satisfactory for the internship in Peru, but she had still signed up to take them early—just in case. She sighed now, very glad that she had chosen to do so, and nodded as they sat down. "You'll come with me, right?"

Albus scoffed. "Erm…" He began slowly as though he was giving the question considerable thought. "I think I'd rather stay behind for the Norway Quidditch tournament?"

Rose had forgotten about that. "You're kidding me, right?"

Albus scoffed again. "It's Quidditch, Rose! I'm surprised you're willing to leave!"

"B-but—you get to travel!"

"I get to travel even if I'm going to Norway."

"But it's the Americas! You've never been there before, and besides, this is about the you-know-what with the you-know-whos!" she snarled the last words under her breath.

Albus looked somewhat torn. "Yeah… but Quidditch!"

"Virginia!"

"Virginia? What's up with Virginia?" Jamie had just walked up to the crowd. She dropped to the ground and flipped a strand of black hair over her shoulder as she turned to look at them with large, chocolate-brown eyes.

"Oh, nothing," Rose shrugged quickly, reaching for her backpack so she didn't have to look Jamie in the eye. "I thought I knew someone who lived in Virginia, that's all."

"Of course you do," Jamie grinned. "I live in Virginia!"

Rose and Albus both turned to her in surprise and at the same time asked, "You do?"

Jamie looked somewhat confused but she smiled and nodded. "Yes?"

"Oh, t-that's terrific," Rose replied rather lamely. She cleared her throat and turned back to her backpack.

Albus leaned towards her as inconspicuously as possible. "Erm… when are we leaving for Virginia again?" He whispered.

Rose had to fight to hold the laughter down. She turned to look at him with a smirk on her face. "Oh, it's 'we' now?"

Albus shrugged, his ears reddening ever so slightly. "Can't send you wandering through foreign countries all on your own, now can I?"